GLENYS HANNA MARTIN ON THE CHILD ABUSE ALLEGATIONS
On 18 January 2021, the Minister for Social Service Frankie Campbell issued a statement saying that he was investigating a video shown on the Bahama Press site that children were being abused at the Government’s Children’s Home. The PLP’s Shadow Minister Glenys Hanna Martin issued the following statement in reply. There is a cultural issue at stake here. One of the employees of the home defended the actions saying if you did not beat the children they would beat you. Archdeacon James Palacious called for the corporal punishment of children to be outlawed. Here is the MP’s full statement:
It is totally unacceptable that children under the watch of the State are subject to abhorrent and cruel treatment.
It is heart-wrenching to watch the video that was obviously secretly obtained and made publicly available by someone equally disturbed by these actions.
The Minister must move with haste and remove all who are in any means connected to this violent response to children whose lives have already been disrupted.
Further, we ask that a bi-partisan commission be appointed to formally look into this matter and the general state of affairs at the Children’s Emergency Hostel and further, to review the vetting, training, management oversight and monitoring of staff in all children’s care facilities.
We must guarantee that no child placed in foster care is ever again subjected to the horrendous treatment that is seen in this deeply disturbing video.
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